The 49ers since signed former St. Louis Rams safety Craig Dahl to compete with Darcel McBath, C.J. Spillman, Trenton Robinson and Michael Thomas as Goldson's replacement.

With 13 draft picks, the 49ers surely will draft a safety, but general manager Trent Baalke softened the 49ers' stance on needing to find one with their first draft pick, slated for No. 31 overall.

"There are players capapble of stepping in and starting in this draft," Baalke said. "Do we feel it's a necessity to do that? I say no.

"We feel very comfortable with the players we have. Is it an area we'd like to add depth and more competition? It certainly is."

One outside candidate that's still under consideration is Charles Woodson, although it sounds as if negotiations with him wouldn't take place until after the draft.

"We feel he can still play the game," Baalke said of Woodson, who visited the 49ers on Feb. 15. "We'll continue to look at that and see how the draft goes. Charles is certainly somebody we're still interested in."

Finding the right complement to strong safety Donte Whitner and the rest of the defense is a major task this offseason.

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Baalke said safeties can be interchangeable "to a degree" in the 49ers' system depending on the skill sets of those safeties. Whitner is a better hitter than a deep-cover guy, so the 49ers likely need a true free safety with vast coverage skills. Goldson, of course, also brought an intimidating, hard-hitting presence that will be hard to replace.

A year after pinpointing A.J. Jenkins before the draft as the 49ers' ideal pick -- and placing his name in a sealed envelope -- Baalke says he has a "pool of players" under consideration.

"There's a lot of value in the draft, more so than maybe just top tier guys," Baalke said. "It's a talented pool of players, probably the larger pool but not as many clear cut guys."